literature
Dear David Foster Wallace
“I’ve gotten convinced that there’s something kind of timelessly vital and sacred about good writing. This thing doesn’t have that much to do with talent, even glittering talent like Leyner’s or serious talent like Daitch’s. Talent’s just an instrument. It’s like having a pen that works instead of one that doesn’t. I’m not saying I’m [...]
RW: Elizabeth: Quasi per caso una donna
Perhaps the most unfortunate thing to say about Michael Kantor is that he seems to be capable of only a very narrow expressive range. Most of his work sticks to the same stew of camp singing, heavily applied Satire, sprinkled with poignancy until we all feel five years old. Too many of his works have looked like an educational poster: this is your ‘FUN’, this is your ‘SOCIAL RELEVANCE’, and this is your ‘MORAL’. Unfortunately, the dramatic mechanics of Elizabeth cannot withstand such treatment.
Pure pulp adventure spirit
There’s a reason people find themselves compulsively hooked on “House,” and it’s little surprise you can build an entire empire on the kicks afforded by a “CSI.” Both have their origins in Sherlock Holmes and his ongoing adventures with his trusted friend, Dr. John Watson. These two characters have been played on film more [...]
Adventures in Pornography
I gave a presentation on pornography today, and it made me realise, really and fully, that tertiary education probably comes five years too early to most people, and how very few artists and critics we have that are not too young for the job.
The Insularity of English
“At a time when everyone is asking why English-language fiction has stalled, why fewer readers buy novels, part of the answer must lie in the decline of translation. Alert readers of Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese, among other languages, participate in an international aesthetic conversation; readers and writers of English, condemned to silence by [...]
STC: Elling & Belvoir: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
I am about to burn all my bridges and praise theatre I have never praised before. But we all grow older and up. Two shows currently playing in Sydney are exemplary for what Sydney likes to do: straight plays, if not television. Things that, we smirk from Melbourne, are not quite theatre.
Indeed, both are adaptations [...]
The Monthly strikes again
The locals will know, the un-Australians won’t: after a public and very unflatteringly-viewed sacking of their finest editor to date, because she dared work independently of her board, The Monthly, Australia’s only candidate for an art&politics magazine, has just appointed a new editor. He is 23 years old.
The public discussion has gone two ways: the [...]
Seven Jewish Children (1?)
Melbourne has had its reading of Seven Jewish Children, its donation bucket and panel afterwards, and yet I am a little surprised that no follow-up discussion has appeared, not even among the bloggers. I imagine it has something to do with the supreme lack of time we all seem to profess at the moment. I [...]
Jamaica Kincaid on travellers
The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being. You are not an ugly person all the time; you are not an ugly person ordinarily; you are not an ugly person day to day. From day to day, you are a nice person.
Contemplating Hell
Contemplating Hell, by Bertolt Brecht.
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